[D&D 2e] Stalwart Adventures 7
Thanin – Human Fighter
Heading to the town of Barrymore, the party met up with a shepherd named Abould. Once it was determined there were no witches in the party, Abould offered to show them to the village.
The village contained little more than a central hall, with surrounding house and farms. The townsfolk were on watch for witches after catching on sneaking about. They stated they hung the witch in a gibbet outside of town. The townsfolk would brook no discussion on the matter.
Outside of town, the party met a gnome, Newfie Fuferbissle, hanging from a tree. In one cage was the diminutive fellow while his stuff was in another cage. Zak decided it was the optimum time to try his climbing and lock-picking skills.
Many tries (and one short fall to the ground) later, the gnome was free and declaring himself with the party. From the gnome’s location, the demon bridge could be seen poking out of the treetops.
Past the (toll) bridge, there was an opportunity to travel to the keep of Lord Cresky to the northeast. The group instead chose to head to the tall, smoky mountain to the west which certainly held the dwarves. Dwarves, Lord Cresky’s men mentioned, that hadn’t been seen outside their mountain in a decade or more.
The party of cityfolk blundered about the foothills for many days, fighting rain and sleet, before chancing on an entrance into the hills. The entrance was braced by large dwarfs carved into the mountain. The entry room was large, warm, and inviting. The party recovered there from the harsh travels.
Exploring the entry room further, they found a door to a smaller room in the back. On the far side of the smaller room were some icons carved into the wall beside another door. Once the first door was closed, the icons could be pushed to open the next door. Unfortunately, there was a particular icon to push, and Zak chose the wrong one. Rubble fell into the room, injuring the party. They were forced to move forward.
The next room had much the same setup, icons that could only be pushed when the first door was closed. Again Zak chose wrong and the party had to deal with rods shooting from the ceiling. Wounded, they entered a third similar room.
The third room had stonecarved dwarves in the four corners. There were the same icons. Zak chose correctly this time, and the door opened to the dwarven keep proper. Two security guards were extremely surprised that there were guests for the first time in a decade.